Despite recent affirmations that Egypt's Premier League is set to start on time, the ongoing violence and instability in the country may make it impossible for the domestic competition to kick off as planned on 2 February.

Violent clashes between protesters and security forces have been taking place in a number of different governorates since Friday, the second anniversary of the January 25 revolution. The verdict in the notorious Port Said case, where 21 Masry football club fans were sentenced to death for their part in the massacre of over 70 Ahly football club fans at Port Said in February 2012, also stirred further violence.

Dozens were reportedly killed and hundreds injured in Port Said, Suez and Ismailia after the verdicts were announced. A state of emergency has been announced in these governorates.

Egyptian Football Association official Mahmoud El-Shami said on Sunday that the league will start as scheduled.

The football governing body has even set new venues for the Suez and Ismailia based-teams, due to security reasons.

EFA President Gamal Allam told local media that the preparations are going as scheduled and that there won't be any postponement or cancelation unless it is required officially.

He also said that football is not a priority right now and that the country's security and peace comes first.

The domestic league has been suspended since the Port Said disaster on 1 February 2012.

Ahram Online welcomes readers' comments on all issues covered by the site, along with any criticisms and/or corrections. Readers are asked to limit their feedback to a maximum of 1000 characters (roughly 50 words). All comments/criticisms will, however, be subject to the following code

We will not publish comments which contain rude or abusive language, libelous statements,
slander and personal attacks against any person/s.

We will not publish comments which contain racist remarks or any kind of racial
or religious incitement against any group of people, in Egypt or outside it.

We welcome criticism of our reports and articles but we will not publish personal
attacks, slander or fabrications directed against our reporters and contributing
writers.

We reserve the right to correct, when at all possible, obvious errors in spelling
and grammar. However, due to time and staffing constraints such corrections will
not be made across the board or on a regular basis.